Fluid pressure system



Oct. 11,1927.

H. W. SHONNARD FLUID PRESSURE SYSTEM Filed Aug. 2, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet lINVENTOR H. H/ 5Ho/vn/A 0 ATTORNEYS I 1 645 07 Oct. 11, 1927. H. O AR I7 6 FLUID PRESSURE SYSTEM I Filed Aug. 2, 1924 5 Sheet-Sheet 2 Z0ATTORNEYS Oct. 11, 1927.

H. W. SHONNARD FLUID PRESSURE SYSTEM Filed Au jzf 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 3ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 11, 1927.

'UNHTED STATES :.PATE.N'PT caries.

HAROLD W. SHONNARD, F MONTOLAIB, NE'W JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO ELEVATOR SUP-PLIES COMPANY, INC, A CORPOEATION OF NEW JERSEY.

FLUID ranssunn SYSTEM.

Application filed August 2,

This invention relates to, fluid pressure systems and particularly tosuch systems as are adapted for use in operating elevator doors and thelike.

An object of the invention is to provide control means for such a systemwhereby a comparatively small actuating force will render effective aconsiderably greater op- -'er'ating force.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide control means which arequick and certain in operation.

Another object is to provide control mechanism which is light in weight,which occupies a minimum amount of space, and which is economical of theoperating fluid.

An important feature of the invention consists in the provision in afluid pressure control device of means whereby the supply pressure isutilized to operate the control valve thereof. to render the fluidpressure alternately effective and ineffective upon the pressureoperated mechanism. Another im- 'portant feature consists in theprovision of means of this nature which are adapted to conserve thesupply of fluid to the greatest possible degree.

Other objects and important features of the invention will appear in thefollowing specification taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings.

While the invention is capable of being applied to a large variety ofuses it will be described particularly applied to fluid pressureoperated devices for opening and closing elevator gates and doors, bothelectrically and manually. In all electrically actuated fluid pressuresystems it is, of course. desirable to reduce the operating cost to aminimum and therefore, other things being equal, the smaller theactuating force which is required the greater will be the commercialsuccess of the device. In devices for operating elevator doors, however,there is another advantage, namely, that by reducing the amount of forcerequired to actuate the device the size of the actuating solenoid andthe members assoi'lfltfid therewith may be materially reduced so as todecrease the weight of the device and thus the weight which it necessary'or the elevator to lift. As will be seen rom the followingspecification,- moreover, device such as is contemplated by thisinventii ii. eaceedinely simple, so tha the Serial No. 729,855.

entire device can be made very lightin weight "and small in size so asto be well adapted for. use in elevators or elsewhere where either alight or a small device is necessary or desirable. It should be noted,moreover, that the advantages of the invention are not only inherent inelectrically operated devices, but also in manually opdevice such ascontemplated by my inven-- tion will beexceedingly economical of thefluid furnishing the pressure, since only a ve small amount of suchfluid can escape during the operation of the device.

A particular embodimentof the invention suchas is adapted for use inconnection with elevator door operating mechanism is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in.which Fig. 1 is a vertical section of thecontrol mechanism on the lines l1 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a section of the control mechanism on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section of the control mechanism on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 illustrates diagrammatically the fluid pressure operatedmechanism together with a circuit arrangement for use in connectionwith' the control mechanism; and

Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to the lower part of Fig. 2, showing analternate construction for the valve head.

In the preferred form of my invention, as illustrated by the particularembodiment thereof shown in the drawings there is provided a supplyconnection 10 leading to an inlet passage 12 in the valve casing 11,mounted on'the underside of anelevator 37 which opens into a pressurechamber 1 1. The members forming the walls of chamber 1% comprise, inthe constructionillustrated .by Figs. 1 and 2. a corrugated flexiblecylinder or sylphon 15. a head-piece 18 of a valve member 20, and anannular casing section 21. The sylphon 15 extends between the headpiece18 and the casing section 21, and is adapted to permit a free movementof valve kage of fluid no t: eeaiag while preventing any m chamber 14. Aport nects the chamber 14 with a valve chamber 23 which is formechin theparticular embodiment of the invention shown, by making a cylindricalcut through a wall 24 which is secured to the bottom of casing section21, leaving a portion of wall 24 in the form of an arcuate partition 24,as shown in Figures 2 and 3. There is thus provided an annularspacecompletely surrounding the valve stem connects to thefluid pressureoperated mechanism, illustrated as an ordinary pneumatic elevator dooropening and closing device 32 comprising a plunger 33 which is shown inFig. 4 as adapted to reciprocate in the cylinder 32 mounted on theelevator 37 and connected by means of a link 34 and a bell crank lever35 to a door or gate 36 of the elevator.

Valve member comprises a stem 39 which extends downwardly from theheadpiece 18 through chamber 23 and which, in

the preferred form of my invention, is provided with a sleeve 40havingradially ex- 1 tended guide ribs 41 unrestricted passage of thefluid to and from the pipe around'the valve sleeve is thus afforded.There are formed on stem 39 on either side of the easing section 24 anupper valve disc 42, and a lower valve disc 43, which discs are sopositioned that they will seat respectively against the upper and lowersurfaces of the casing section 24 so as to close opening 22 when thevalve member 20 is lowered and to close opening 26 when the valve member20 is raised. There is provided thus, a valve chamber having oppositelydisposed inlet and exhaust'openings and a valve member which is adaptedto close these openings alternately. V

The head of valve member 20, comprising head-piece 18 and sylphon 15, isset in a counterpressure chamber 45 which is con nected to the inletpassage 12 by means of passageways 47, an auxiliary valve chamber 48,and a bypass 50. An inspection of Figs. 1 and 2 will make it evidentthat the extent of surface on'the head of valve memher 20 exposed to apressure medium in 1 chamber 14 is exactly equal to the extent ofsurface on this member exposed to pressure from a pressure medium incounterpressure chamber 45, except for a surface equal in extent to thecross'seotional area of stem 39 with its ribs upon which surface thedownward pressure of a pressure medium in chamber will be unopposed, sothat a greater effective surface will be presented to a pressure mediumin counterpressure chamber 45 than is presented to a medium in pressurechamber 14. Thus, when both these chambers are filled with fluid at thesupply pressure the valve member 20 will be held in its lower positionwith valve disc 42 against casing section 24 to close opening 22 andwith valve disc 43 away from the casing section 24 to open opening 26.

There is provided in the auxiliary chamber 43 a port or opening 51 intoan escape passage 52 which opens into a chamber 53 provided with anexhaust opening 54. An auxiliary valve member 56 is provided to closeopening 51, and in the preferred form of my invention is provided with astem57 which in section in the form of a cross so as to be guided inpassages 52 without closing the same. There is also provided means forclosing the opening 61 between chamber 43 and bypass which, in theparticular embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, consists ofa ball 60 adapted to be driven into a recess 59 at opening 61, by thedownward movement of valve member 56 so as to prevent any escape of thesupply fluid through by-pass 50 when valve 56 is opened. There is thusprovided means by which openings 51 and 61 may be alternately closed bythe movements of the valve member 56. The ball 60 and the valve 56 withits stem 57 are made light enough so that the pressure of the supplyfluid in passage 50 and chamber 48 will normally be sufficient to forcethe ball 60 against valve 56, which may be provided if desired for thispurpose with a recess 63 in its lower surface, and to hold valve 56upwardly against its seat. The means for moving the valve 56 downwardlyto open opening 51 and to thrust ball 60 into its recess 59 comprises,in the particular embodiment of my invention shown, a toggle member 68.The base of the toggle 68 is carried on a horizontal resilient strip orspring member 67 extending above the head 62 of the stem 57 and ismaintained in operative alignn'ient therewith by means of a pin 64 whichis slidably set in a vertical groove 65 in a casing member 66. The head69 of toggle 68 is rounded and extends between the bearing surfaces 71and 72 of a horizontally slidable toggle-actuating plunger 73 and isheir! against the head 74 of an opposing toggle member 75, which ispivoted on a bracket 77, by the tension of spring 67. Toggle members 68and 75 are set so that they will normally form an angle toward bearingsurface 71, or to the right as the toggles appear in Fig. 2, so thatupon movement of plunger 73 to the left the toggle members will bestraightened out to move toggle 68 downwardly against'the'tension ofspring 67 and ill) against the head 62 of stem 57 to move valve member56 away from its seat. As the movement of plunger 73 to the left iscontinued, the valve member 56 will press the ball 60 into recess 59 soas to close opening 61. There is thus provided means for opening theport 51 so as to permit escape of the fluid pressure medium from chamber18, and by the same movement of stem 57 to tightly close opening 61 soas to prevent any flow of the fluid pressure medium from the chamber 12through by-pass into the exhaust chamber 53 and thus to conserve thesupply fluid to the greatest possible extent. A subsequent movement ofthe plunger 73 to the right will move the toggles so that they willagain form an angle with each other so as to relieve the pressure uponspring 67. The tension of this spring will then move the toggle 68upwardly so as to permit the pressure medium in by-pass 50 to again liftthe ball and the valve 56 with its stem 57 to open opening 61 and toclose opening 51.

When the movement of the plunger 73 is to be controlled manually, theplunger may be equipped with an arm 7 8 extending out of the casing ofthe control mechanism, which arm may be actuated by any suitable means.In the particular embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, thearm 78 is equipped with a pair of yoke collars 79 and 80 which areplaced in the path of movement of a yoke 81 carried by a bellcrank lever82, which is pivoted on a bracket 88 carried by the casing of thecontrol mechanism. The lever 82 is connected by means of a link 84 to abell-crank lever 85, which usually will be carried on a pivot 86 whichis inside the elevator, the operation of the doors of which iscontrolled by the control device. Lever is provided with a handle 87. bythe movement of which the operator may control the movements of plunger73. The horizontal movement of plunger 73 is limited by a stop 89, shownat the right in Fig. 2, and a stop 90 at the left.

The toggles must, of course, be made of suriicientsize so that a tightclosure of opening 61 may be secured when plunger 73 is a 'ainct stop90, and in order to allow for mechanical inaccuracies in the size of thetoggles and their associated parts, and in order to prevent the rackingof the mechanism as the toggles are straightened out, the bracket 7'? isnot afiixed solidly to the casing on the device but is provided with acushion seat which as shown consists of a coil spring 91 which is heldbetween the heat of a springholding member 93, which is screwed in acasing section 94, and the spring seat 95 surrounding the stem 96 ot thebracket 7'7, which stem is slidably Set into an opening in the bottom ofmember 93. The spring 91 is made sufliciently strong so that it willpress the toggle members downwardly when they are straightened out withsufiicient force to hold the ball 60 against its seat at opening 61against the supply pressure tending to force the ball upwardly and yetsufiiciently rcsilient to provide the necessary cushionseat tor themechanism.

While my invention is well adapted to be embodied in ainanually-actuated control device, it will probably find its most commonapplication in electrically-actuated control devices which are providedwith manually-controlled actuating means which may be used in case'theelectrical means fail, for any reason, to operate. The control deviceshown in the drawings is equipped with a larger solenoid 98 positionedat the left of the toggle members, and a smaller solenoid 99 positionedat the right. The solenoids 98 and 99 are provided with cores 101 and102, respectively, and in the preferred form of my invention the toggles68 and 75 and the plunger 73 are formed of magnetic material so that acomplete magnetic circuit may be formed through these members and thecore of either solenoid. The toggles and the plunger thus act as anarmature for the solenoids, so that when solenoid 98 is energized theplunger will be drawn to the left and the toggles will be straightenedout, and as solenoid 99 is energized the plunger will be drawn to theright and the toggles will tend to form an angle.

A circuit arrangement through which solenoids 98 or 99 may be energizedis shown in Fig. 4 A lead 10% extends from a main 105 to a two-wayswitch 106, which is usual ly placed in the elevator the door of whichis to be operated so as to be under the control of the operator thereof.Switch 106 is provided with a contact 107 from which a lead 108 extendsthrough terminals in a terminal box on the side of the control device.and through a. resistance 109 to sole-- noid 98, and thence by lead 111to a conductor 112, through terminals in terminal box 100, and to a main115. From the other contact 117 of twoway switch 106. a lead 118 extendsthrough terminals in be 100 to a resistance 119, which is connected tosolenoid 99 from which a lead 116 extends to conductor 112. I I

In 5 there is shown an alternate arrangement at the head of valve 20 inwhich the sylphon 15 is dispensed with. In place of the sylphon thereprovided a cupped packing120 which is held firmly between a head piece121 on the valve 20 and a disc 122 by means of screws 123. The cuppedsid-es'ot the packing extend along the inner cylindrical walls oil ahollow casing section 12 1 in which pressure chamber 14 is formed andare held there-against by the pressure medium in. chamber 14, the edgesof the cup a In being preferably beveled asshown in order to stillfurther assure a tight closure of this chamber. The walls of thecounter-pressure chamber 45 are formed by the upper inside walls of casingsection 124 and by the top of disc 122, and the cupped packingtogether with its holding members is slidable along the inner walls ofthe cylinder as the valve member 20 is raised and lowered.

It is believed that the O eration of the control device shown will bereadily apparent from the above description. The device is shown in thedrawings in a closed door position in which the valve 56 is closed withpressure in the chamber 48 to hold the valve to its seat. The compressedfluidfills passage 12 and bypass 56, and will bear against the ball soas to thrust this ball upwardly into recess 63 and to force valve member56 against its seat at opening 51 where it will be held by the supplypressure until the toggles 68 and are operated. Chambers 45 and 14 willthen both be filled with the fluid pressure medium, and because a largerpressure surface is presented by the head of valve member 20 to themedium in chamber 45 than is presented to the medium in chamber 14, thevalve member 20 will be held downwardly to maintain opening 22 closed.The control device will then be in readiness to be actuated by theoperator. In order to actuate the particular device illustrated theoperator will move handle 87 to the left, or will move switch 106 so asto close the contact 107, and will thus either mechanically orelectrically cause plunger 7 3 to be moved to the left and the togglesto be straightened out against the tension of spring 67 so as to thruststem 57 and valve member 56 downwardly to open opening 51 and to thrustball 60 into recess 59 to close opening 61. The chamber 45 will thenexhaust throu h aassa res 47 chamber 48 and n z: a a passage 52 so as torelieve the pressure upon the larger pressure surface of the head ofvalve 20, opening 61 being closed so as to prevent any additionalpressure medium be coming effective against this surface. The pressureof the medium in chamber 14 will then be sufficient to raise valve 20 soas to open opening 22 and to close opening 26. As the opening 22 isopened the fluid pressure medium from the supply will flow throughpassage 12 and chamber 14 over the top of wall 24 into valve chamber 23,and thence through. pipe 30 to the operating member 32 to operateplunger 33 to open the elevator door 36 shown of the wicker type. Thepressure thus admitted to the plunger will hold it raised until theoperator desires to close the door 36, he will move handle 87 to theright, or will move switch 106 to close contact 117, and will thus causeplunger 7 3 and the heads 69 and 74 of the toggles to be 7 moved to theright so as to relieve the pres opening. 7

. to be again forced upwardly by, the pressure of the medium in passage50 upon the ball 60. The opening 51 will thus be closed so that thesupply pressure will be re-established in chamber 45 and will bearagainst the larger pressure surface on the valve member 20 so as tothrust the valve member 20 downwardly to close opening 22 and to cut 0dchamber 23 from the supply. The downward movement of the valve 20 willalso open opening 26 to provide an exhaust for chamber 28 and pipe 30,so as to relieve" the pressure in the operating mechanism 32 to permitthe door 36 to close, spring means being provided in member 32 above theplunger 33 for this purpose. ,7

- While the invention has been described as embodied in a particularmanner, it will be understood that it is by no means limited by such anembodiment, but it is adapted to be employed in control devices ofvarying constructions and types.

-' What is claimed as new is:

1. In a fluid pressurecontrol device, a pis ton, an expansible chamber,a supply of fluid, a valve chamber, a pair of oppositelydisposedopenings therein one of which forms an outlet and the other of whichcommunicates with the supply, a valve member having two discs foralternately closing said openings, a third opening in said valve chambercommunicating with said expansible chamber, a pressure surface on one ofsaid discs exposed to the supply pressure whereby said outlet openingmay be closed, a larger and opposing pressure surface on said disc.facing into a counter-pressure chamber, an auxiliary valve chambercommunicating with said counter-pressure chamher, an upward exhaustopening in said auxiliary valve chamber, an oppositely-disposed downwardopening therefrom into a passage connecting with the supply, a recess atsaid downward opening, a ball adapted to fit into said recess to closethe downward opening but to be pushed upwardly therefrom by the supplypressure, an auxiliary valve member adapted to beseated at said upwardopening to close the same, and to be held against its seat by the supplypressure against said ball, and means for moving said auxiliary valvemember and said ball downwardly to close said downward 2. In a fluidpressurecont'rol device, a piston, an expansible chamber, a supply offluid, a valve chamber. a pair of oppositelydisposed openings thereinone of which forms an outletand the other of which comchambercommunicating with said sible chamber, a pressure surface on one of saiddiscs exposed to the supply pressure whereby said outlet opening may beclosed, a larger and opposing pressure surface on said disc facing intoa counter-pressure chamber, an auxiliary Valve chamber communicatingwith said counter -pressure chamber, an upward exhaust opening in saidauxiliary valve chamber, an oppositely disposed downward openingtherefrom into a passage connecting with the supply, a recess at saiddownward opening, a ball adapted to fit into said recess to close thedownward opening but to be pushed upwardly there- 'rom by the supplypressure, an auxiliary valve member adapted to be seated at said upwardopening to close the same and to be held against its seat by the supplypressure against said ball, electrically-actuated toggle means forthrusting said auxiliary valve and said ball downwardly to close saiddownward opening, and a cushion seat for said toggle means opposing theoperating seat thereof.

3. In a fluid pressure control device, a valve chamber, a pair ofopposite-disposed openings therein, one of which forms an outlet and theotherof which communicates with the supply, a valve member foralternately closing said openings, a third opening in said valve chambercommunicating with an operating connection, a pressure surface on' saidvalve member exposed to the supply pressure, whereby said outlet openingmay be closed, a counter-pressure cha1ner, a larger and opposingpressure surface on said valve member against which the fluid in saidcounter-pressure chamber is free to act, a passage connecting saidcounterpressure chamber with the supply, another passage from saidcounter-pressure chainber to the exhaust, a mechanically unattachedvalve member controlling said firstnamed passage, other meanscontrolling said second-named passage, said unattached valve memberbeing normally held from its seat in its associated passage by thepressure of the fluid in said passage, and means for forcing saidunattached member to its seat against the pressure of said fluid wherebycommunication is cut off between said counter-pressure chamber andsupply, said last named means also serving to open said second-- namedpassage to exhaust.

Signed at Hoboken, New Jersey this 31st day of July, 1924.

HAROLD WV. SHONNARD.

